Reports are popping up all over from fans who saw Dave Chappelle stop his headlining set at Thursday's oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival in Hartford, Conn., because of hecklers.

He left the stage after telling only a few jokes.

WTNH reportsthat there was some booing and yelling, then Chappelle spent several minutes sitting on the stage smoking a cigarette before finally just leaving.

He sat on a stool making comments about the situation and responding to hecklers until the end of what apparently was his contractually mandated time on stage, the Associated Press reports. Chappelle apparently told the audience he needed to do only about 25 minutes to get paid.

According to audience members interviewed by theHartford Courant,Chappelle was fine for the first five or 10 minutes. He was telling jokes, as usual. But every time anyone would scream out anything, Chappelle would stop speaking and tell the crowd how "awful" it was.

Courantreporter Julie Stagis was at the show and says, "There were a lot of lulls." Chappelle said "something funny about how he'd hop a plane to South Africa in the morning like he did when he quitChappelle's Show. Then he started lecturing the audience, insulting everybody rather than just the hecklers. It was like when your teacher says 'I'll wait' and sits there, waiting for the class to be quiet."

She said it was "horrible to watch," and after the booing started, it "was incredibly awkward and very uncomfortable ..."

Chappelle, who has had arocky relationshipat times with his audiences, left Comedy Central'sChappelle's Showin 2005 in the middle of producing its third season, walking away from a big contract.